For more than 100 years, from roughly the 1850’s until after World War II, Asians in America were deemed foreign, unwanted, and uncivilized.  Asians were termed the “yellow peril” and were thought to be a menace to Western society.  They were the targets of racial attacks and discriminatory laws because of their image as a threat.  However, starting in the 1960s, this negative view drastically changed to one of admiration as Asian success stories started becoming more and more prevalent throughout American society.

September 23, 2010 marked a transition point in our country’s healthcare policy. President Obama passed the Affordable Care Act to “begin to bring to an end some of the worst abuses of the insurance industry” (“Affordable Care” 1). This act aims to provide more coverage, rights, and benefits to a greater population of citizens. Such changes will occur in all new Health Care plans, and to some current plans.

The United States was the first country to put a man on the Moon, and ever since then NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has been a beacon of hope for the American people. However, there is a current debate about privatization of the United Space Agency.  Regardless whether or not it is privatized, it will continue to face significant problems.   NASA is a huge organization with an even bigger budget, but it produces no revenue to sustain itself.

The organ transplant process has stood as a life saving practice for over fifty years. However, since the beginning there has been controversy surrounding the process coming from transplant doctors, recipients, and registered donors and their families. Controversial issues include the medically accepted definition of death, the practice of familial consent, and the development of new ways to increase the number of registered donors around the country.

Due to current United States military regulation, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) citizens have to keep their sexual orientation a secret if they want to serve in any branch of the armed forces.  In 1993, in an attempt to stifle protest from the gay community, President Bill Clinton initiated the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy (DADT) within the United States armed forces.  The policy indicated that while homosexual citizens could still serve in the armed forces, they could not do so if they announced their sexual orientation.

Six weeks. That’s how long I laid in agony. I waited for six weeks as my doctor tried one thing after another, before finally prescribing adequate pain medication for my previously diagnosed juvenile arthritis. He was following protocol, of course, but lying in bed for six weeks as I was denied the pain relief I desperately craved, makes protocol a poor excuse for waiting. Had he prescribed them sooner, I would not have spent those many weeks in pain. However, that was not the “appropriate” way to handle the situation.

My first semester of college was a life changing experience; not only did I grow and mature as a person, but I witnessed a good friend of mine, Michael, destroy his life with drug abuse. Michael’s drug of choice was Xanax, a prescription pill categorized as a central nervous system depressant that serves to slow down normal brain function, and is prescribed to patients with anxiety and sleep disorders.  Although he began experimenting with prescription drugs in high school, it was not until college that he began regularly using pharmaceuticals and forming an addiction.

One would believe that bulging bellies and tenacious toddlers are rarely seen in a suburban, predominately middle class high school setting. However, from my first year of high school through the summer following my graduation, I saw countless childbearing contemporaries and had many pregnancy troubled friends. Some of my fretful peers exemplified the racy, risk-taking stereotype of sexually active teens. Others were relatively careful, and still others were the reason for the “it only takes once” cliché. A friend of mine, Tiffany, came dangerously close to illustrating the cliché.

Scientists have been trying to create synthetic life, life created in lab, for many years. The first breakthrough in this process happened about thirty years ago when genetic engineers began to genetically modify organisms (Savulescu). These engineers physically move genes across species in order to improve an organism or to cause an organism to function differently. Even though this process sounds as if it happens only in fantasy games, genetically modified organisms are common.